To produce as much food as possible with the least amount of monetary resources,
To do so with a focus on sustainability and environmentally sound methods,
To use as much recycled, re-purposed, found and donated materials,
To maintain a neighborhood-friendly aesthetic,
To provide as much information on the methods and progress/problems as possible, and
To keep quantified records illustrating the costs and yields of the methods involved.
I felt this project deserved an honest-to-god plan. As such, the following schematic for the seedlings was developed through the cunning use of a pen, a spare hacksaw blade and one sheet of graph paper. This was done simply so I could keep track of what-was-what as it sprouted and then transplant each plant to what I will later guess to be the appropriate sized container. I should point out that at this moment, I have a grand total of two containers and fifty (+) plants germinating.
I'm lucky enough to have a neighbor who is incredibly into gardening. As such, there just so happens to be a sizable pile of dirt in the back as well as many gardening utensils available to me.
If there are no such resources available to you, I do believe that the local extension offices of your city government may provide such resources, either for free or for a nominal fee. You may be interested to find out what resources are available to you before you start. In Jacksonville, Florida, the Duval County Extension Office can be reached at (904) 387-8850.
So here is where the apologetics begin. The idea for this project occurred just after I had visited a Home Improvement shop because I wanted to grow "a few plants." I wasn't thinking about bio-intensive or urban gardening methods, I simply wanted to buy three or four ornamental plants. Later in the afternoon, I began to think of possibilities, and voila: this project. While at the store though, I picked up a 40 lb. bag of composted cow manure for $1.67 (plus 7% for a Better Jacksonville TM. )
After doing some research, it turns out that this material is most likely not organic. In fact, it was a pretty poor decision on my part as it most likely comes from the cattle industry, an industry which I am whole-heartedly against. The cattle which produced this manure are fed/injected with antibiotics and de-worming medication, which in turn pass through the cows into their waste products. The remainder of these chemicals which are not broken down through the composting method have the potential to adversely affect the microorganisms in your soil which are actually beneficial to the plant growth. This will undoubtedly not be the only mistake I make, but I believe in full disclosure, warts-and-all. Finding a better source of compost is something that I will need to be working on soon. As it stands, I will work with what I have as I'm already behind the curve, starting this late into the season and it was an honest mistake made from ignorance. Live and learn.
After picking up some seeds last night from JCNI's Jennifer McCharen (see: Jacksonville Carbon Neutral Initiative) I planted the seeds inside the seedling containers. Each seed was placed about 3x as deep as the seed was tall. I have no idea if this is optimal, but it should work as I have full faith in the drive of any biological process to strive towards life.
Once finished, the trays were watered and they looked like this. (Day Zero: Earth Day, 2008)
Finally, I seem to have misplaced the tomato seeds. There is one tray still left over which will be used to grow an abundance of tomatoes. It sits, lonely and waiting, amidst the front porch steps.
Thus endeth day one. I have watered each of the seeded trays, set them in full sunlight and am now fighting the compulsion to check them every two hours to see if anything has happened yet. More to come, soon
Cheers,
Steve
